


as the world turns, the blunt burns

by ms_scarlet



Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: F/M, Recreational Drug Use, a little bit fluffy, a little bit not, spoilers through 303
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:55:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23067355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ms_scarlet/pseuds/ms_scarlet
Summary: “He’s so mad,” she whispers to Mick except maybe it isn’t a whisper because Rio clearly heard her and-oh!Maybe he has super hearing, that would make sense.“Oh yeah,” Mick nods. “He big mad.”Beth suddenly sobers, as much as she can when she feels like she’s simultaneously floating away and sinking into the Earth, and wipes her eyes. “Are you gonna get in trouble?”“You’re in the house, ain’t you?” He’s answering Beth but looking at Rio.“Mick,” Beth frantically tugs at his pant leg because apparently he doesn’t have all of the information. “We’re in theyard.”“Yeah, Mick.” Rio says, glaring. “You’re in theyard.”--Aka the one where Beth throws caution to the wind and gets high with her guard.
Relationships: Beth Boland/Rio
Comments: 31
Kudos: 253





	as the world turns, the blunt burns

**Author's Note:**

> Someone, somewhere in the wilds of tumblr said something about Beth and Mick getting high and I saw it while scrolling but cannot for the life of me remember who said it or where or in what context so my bad. Anyway, it was inspiring.
> 
> I went with Mick over Demon because I’m new here and wasn’t attached to any Rio-and-his-boys headcanons but I understand this is a time of upheaval and I’m sorry for it.
> 
> Title from Ganja Burn by Nicki Minaj

If you'd asked Beth two years ago about embracing new experiences, she probably would've said something like they're good for growth as a general concept, but raising four kids was enough day to day new experiences. She didn't need to seek out anything on top of that, thank you very much.

Then, of course, she robbed a grocery store, and everything went to hell. Somehow that single data point in the timeline of her whole life directly connects to this one right now: smoking marijuana for the second time in her entire life with the tattooed thug keeping her trapped in her house. 

You know, as one does.

Beth hadn't intended to. She'd been cleaning the kitchen after getting the kids off to school—hectic, stressful, still more than a little heart-wrenching seeing them there with their backpacks and homework and shining paths into future, grown and away from her—and looked up to see Mick at the picnic table rolling what looked like a cigar but Beth knew that wasn't what it was.

She'd been furious—in her  _ backyard? _ In  _ broad daylight? _ Where her  _ kids play? _ —and marched out there to tell him she didn't care if he had orders to shoot her on sight, he needed to cut that out. 

Instead, what'd come out was  _ can I have some _ , and Beth doesn't know who was more surprised, to be honest.

So here they are. Mick's lighting the little cigar, rolling the tip around in the flame and puffing a little before passing it to Beth, who holds it carefully to her lips and inhaled.

And immediately doubles over, choking. 

Mick laughs, less mean and more amused than she would've expected from the guy keeping her on house arrest.

"You've never done this before, huh?"

"I have," Beth says, between coughs, feeling unfairly embarrassed considering it had been  _ illegal _ up until recently. "Just once, though. My best friend and I tried to smoke a joint, but it was awful, and neither of us felt anything."

Mick nods like that makes perfect sense to him. "Joints are tricky; it's easy to not roll 'em right and not hit 'em right."

He gestures to the cigar she's still holding. "Blunts are easier, but they hit harder, so you've gotta go easy on 'em. Try pulling the smoke into your mouth and holding it there for a second before you inhale."

Beth nods, following Mick's advice. She still coughs when she exhales, but overall the process goes a lot smoother.

She watches him take his turn. Life can be so weird. She met this guy when he held a gun to her head, ready to blow her brains out all over her dining room at a single nod from his boss. Now she's sitting here with him, at her backyard picnic table, weirdly comfortable despite him probably being ready to shoot her if she moves funny. Smoking  _ marijuana _ .

It strikes her that the shooting thing should probably be more concerning, but she's pretty used to it at this point.

She hits the cig-  _ blunt- _ again and is more proud than she would ever admit to anyone that she doesn't cough at all this time. Okay, yeah, she chokes a little, but she controls it, and the approving nod Mick gives her makes her feel warm and floaty all over.

Actually, that might be the blunt.

"How long does it take to kick in?"

He laughs. "You'll know."

Beth hums a little in acknowledgment and looks around the yard. It's a beautiful day. The sun is shining, the sky is a bright clear blue dotted with a handful of fluffy, candyfloss clouds, and the air still holds the remains of summer but is mixed with the first, faintest hint of fall. 

She accepts the blunt again when Mick holds it out to her, eyebrow raised in question.

_ Why not. _

The grass is getting kind of long, though, which is annoying. Despite Beth being perfectly capable of mowing the lawn herself, Dean had  _ insisted _ that the lawn was his job, so she'd left it to him. And yet. Here it is, unmowed.

Beth wiggles her bare feet, liking the feel of the long blades between her toes. It feels so good she does it again, sighing a little.

She wonders what it would feel like on her face.

"What the-" Mick startles when she hands him the blunt and slides off the bench, laying out in the grass at his feet and-  _ Oh _ .  _ Yes. _

The ground is bouncy beneath her, warm from the morning sun that's now beaming down on her face. She groans as she stretches out her whole body, extending her arms above her head and pointing her toes out like she's doing yoga, rolling back and forth a little to snuggle deeper into the lawn.

It feels so good she can barely believe it and hasn't the faintest idea why she doesn't lie down in her yard more often. 

"You good?" Beth looks up, and Mick is looking down at her, confused and a little alarmed, and it's hilarious. 

The laugh that spills out of her surprises her; it's bright and sparkly in a way she hasn't heard herself sound in probably years. It's bubbling out of her, and she can't stop it, and she doesn't have the energy to try. Or even see why she should. 

Her head feels foamy, which makes absolutely zero sense and just makes her laugh harder. She's laughing so hard she's curled up, arms wrapped around her waist, tears pouring down her face.

"The fuck is this?"

She looks up and Rio's standing over her—who knows where he came from, he probably popped out of the perennials or something—jaw ticking furiously and Beth can _ not _ for the life of her stop laughing. 

"He's so mad," she whispers to Mick, except maybe it isn't a whisper because Rio clearly heard her and-  _ oh! _ Maybe he has super hearing, that would make sense. 

"Oh yeah," Mick nods. "He big mad."

Beth suddenly sobers as much as she can when she feels like she's simultaneously floating away and sinking into the Earth and wipes her eyes. "Are you gonna get in trouble?"

"You're in the house, ain't you?" He's answering Beth but looking at Rio.

"Mick," Beth frantically tugs at his pant leg because apparently, he doesn't have all of the information. "We're in the  _ yard." _

"Yeah, Mick," Rio says, glaring. "You're in the  _ yard." _

Mick shrugs, and Beth realizes he isn't scared of Rio at all. That's a neat trick. How does he do that? Maybe he can teach her. 

"Come on, boss." He holds the blunt out to Rio. "When's the last time you lived a little?"

Rio's jaw works, and Beth can't look away from it. It looks like he's chewing on nothing, which should be ridiculous, but instead, it's so  _ sexy. _ It doesn't make any sense at all. 

"You don't make sense," Beth tells him. 

"Oh yeah?" He looks down at her. "Why's that?"

"Because." She waves at him. "Look at you."

He raises his eyebrows and turns to Mick. "How much has she had?"

Mick shrugs. "She only hit it a few times. It's Kevin's shit, though. I'm surprised she can still talk, I didn't think she'd done this before."

"Hey!" Beth breaks in to defend her honor. "I told you. I have done this  _ once _ before."

They ignore her, which is  _ rude. _ They're having a silent conversation, the kind Beth and Ruby can have, but Ruby and Annie cannot and Beth watches, fascinated. She didn't realize they were  _ friends _ . 

She didn't think Rio had friends, to be honest. 

Whatever's said, the conversation ends with Rio sighing, shrugging a little, and hitting the blunt. Beth can't even get excited about it—it feels like she won something, but what, she doesn't know—because when he inhales, his cheeks hollow out, and his cheekbones are entirely unfair and distracting. It makes her mouth go dry. 

Actually, her mouth is really dry, now that she's thinking about it. 

She smacks her lips a little and sticks her tongue out, trying to see if she's got something on it. It feels like it's coated with something sticky. 

"It's called cottonmouth," Rio says, voice tight from holding in the smoke. "You ain't got nothin' on your tongue."

Beth pauses, her fingers in her mouth where she's trying to scrape her tongue off and looks at him, raising an eyebrow. He laughs; it's a loud, surprised sound that bursts out of him along with a cloud of smoke. He passes the blunt to Mick as he doubles over, laughing and coughing a little. 

"Fuckin' amateur hour out here," Mick mutters before taking a hit. 

He passes it back to Rio, and Beth makes a little whimpery noise, reaching for it, not wanting to be left out, but Rio just looks at her, pursing his lips.

"Nah, I think you had enough." 

She frowns. "I want more, this is fun."

"Yeah, well, this ain't supposed to be  _ fun _ for you, now is it?" 

It's like a thunder cloud rolls in, and Beth goes cold. He's right, none of this is supposed to be fun. She rolls over and pushes herself to her feet, heading for the house.

"Where you off to?" Rio asks.

She keeps going. "I need something to drink."

Inside the kitchen is quiet and blue and almost dark after the morning sunshine in the yard. Beth takes a minute to lay her head down on the counter, appreciating the feel of the cool marble. 

It takes her a bizarrely long time to choose which cups to use. She doesn't like to bring glass into the yard, but something about her plastic juice cups with their bright red poppy pattern feels too  _ fun _ in a way this isn't supposed to be. She ends up making up a tray with three sippy cups, figuring if they get left in the yard, it's not the end of the world because she has probably close to a million. 

At the last second, she pulls her secret stash of Thin Mints out of the freezer, the ones she keeps hidden behind a tower of Lean Cuisines knowing Dean will never find them there, and dumps some onto a plate, arranging them in a simple spiral pattern.

She wants a cookie, and it'd be rude not to share, that's all. Unlike  _ some _ people, she has  _ manners. _

Rio and Mick both blink at her when she sets the tray down on the table. She blinks back as she sits down and grabs a cookie. 

"What is this, a fuckin' play date?" Rio asks, and Mick pauses mid-reach for a cookie. 

"It's a  _ snack," _ Beth says, nudging the plate towards Mick. "You don't have to have any if you don't want them."

Beth stares Rio down as she crunches down on her cookie and then washes it down with a long drink from her sippy cup. She's mesmerized by the thousand different things rippling over his face but finds herself unable to identify any of them. 

Mick takes advantage of their distraction to eat at least seven cookies, methodically popping them in his mouth while he gazes out at the yard. 

Eventually, Rio breaks the stare— _ ha! _ She won  _ again!— _ and shakes his head, laughing a little, but it doesn't sound all that happy. 

Beth frowns. He's such a buzzkill. It's nice when it isn't her for a change. 

The three of them sit in silence for a while, and Beth closes her eyes, relishing the feeling of the sunshine on her face. She can hear some later summer bees buzzing over by her asters. 

_ This is nice. _

The thought startles her, it's been longer than she wants to think about since she's felt so uncomplicatedly good, which is ridiculous given the situation. Her eyes pop open to catch Rio staring at her, his eyes dark and intent, frowning a little like he's trying to work something out.

She frowns back at him. He's the one that doesn't add up. 

"So, whatchu up to in that shop of yours, mama?"

Beth's frown deepens. "The Paper Porcupine?"

Rio props his chin in his hand and nods. Beside him, Mick pulls out his earbuds and phone and tunes them out.

"We-" Beth pauses, there's a trap here. She knows it. "We sell cards. And stationary."

"And?"

Beth thinks of the operation set up in the back room that there's no way he knows about. "Little gifts, paper goods of all kinds. Nothing special."

"Right, right." He nods, eyes bright and interested, and Beth's wariness intensifies. "We should go check it out. Marcus' birthday's comin' up, and I need a good card."

"Oh, um-" Beth frantically looks for an out. "I can't. Right now, I mean. I have so much laundry. You could come by this afternoon, though. My shift starts at four. I can help you pick something out."

"Nah, this afternoon's no good for me, let's go now."

Beth stands and gathers up the tray. "I have to finish the dishes."

"They can wait."

"I should- um. I need to change my clothes." If she can get away long enough, maybe she can get Annie or Ruby to run there and...she doesn't know. Set the building on fire. Something.

"You fine." Rio says it with emphasis on the fine, dragging his eyes up and down her body, gaze so heavy and intent that it feels almost like a physical touch. Beth flushes all the way to the roots of her hair. 

The bastard smirks at her.

Mick snorts but doesn't look up at them.

Her high had felt so good a few minutes ago is turning to lead in her stomach, and she really needs her brain to work better than it's currently capable of. 

Beth stares at Rio, and his smirk widens at her open and obvious discomfort, and she realizes he's doing this on purpose, which shouldn't even be a realization because, of course, he is, but she's not firing on all cylinders right now. 

Her mouth works as she runs through potential excuses and delays and comes up with his rebuttal to each one of them. The whole while he just watches her like a snake, chin still propped in his hand, waiting until she accepts the inevitable. 

Suddenly the thought of continuing to fight him is the most exhausting thing in the world, and Rio's smirk turns to a full-on grin when Beth's shoulders sag.

"Let me get my bag."

This time, he won. 


End file.
